I'd like to see some sort of pause ability in Dawn of Fantasy. Not in multiplayer, that would be ridiculous for obvious reasons, but in the single player campaign and skirmishes.

I've said this before, games can get a little hectic, and it never hurts to take a step back without actually removing yourself from the combat. Some of you may know about BioShock, BioShock did this really well. Holding down the Right or Left Bumper (I mean this feature for both the PC and 360 versions of Dawn of Fantasy) you can pull up your list of weapons or plasmids and it will pause the game and let you choose one of either that best suits the situation.

So I think if done properly, a pause feature could be really good. Say for example, your engaging an enemy army in single player, you hit (for very rough example) Z or the Right Bumper, it pauses the game so long as it's held down (or it can be an on off thing). But, you will still be able to move around the map, select units, and give orders, and those orders will be carried out after the pause button is let go. Let's say for example, you've got some knights up on the hill, and your in fighting below the hill, trying to keep all your units in line, pull back the right people, ect, ect. You suddenly see some archer units march up behind them, well, you can drag yourself over to those knights wasting valuable time, or you can pause, switch over, tell them to attack, then drag yourself back over and let go of the pause.

Some people might complain about realism, but how is the general (you) waiting until you have the units in plain site from a birds eye view to give them the order more realistic than the general (you) just shouting, knight attack those archers. On the console version, I think the pause feature would allow for a much more easier and smooth gameplay experience, making up for a lot of the short comings consoles experience when hosting RTS games.

Hotkeyes (Not available on the console) do a good job of easing this, but for people like me who can often get flustered during a game and often end up sacrificing units in split second decisions, even with the use of hot keys, it's nice to be able to take a short break from all the chaos and access the situation.

Pause features have a dubious other side. They all too easily become crutches for players, and become that "panic button". Then, when those players decide to go online, their panic button is gone and they are completely overwhelmed. This can be a serious turn-off. There's no questioning that it makes the game much easier to play, but the question is whether the tradeoff is worthwhile.

That said, multiplayer "time outs" are fairly standard in most games. The time out feature is usually turned off in competitive modes (or restricted), but is useful in friendly or network matches. You are unable to give orders during a time-out, as they are meant for convenience purposes, not to ease gameplay.

I think that the developers would have to overlook something the player him/herself could deal with themselves, and focus on gameplay. From the experiences I've had with pause features, not the pause in multiplayer that you mentioned Darvin, but one where you could still give orders, it only enhances the gameplay.

Whether or not it's a crutch players have to deal with, well if your really going to take your online play seriously I don't think this is too much to worry about. You'd realize that that crutch would not carry over to online play, and you'd online more, or use the feature in single player less.

The key is to remember that there is a tradeoff here, and try to minimize it. The game should not only be possible, but fun and manageable, without the pause feature. Huge battles in the Total War series just aren't manageable without pause, which is why only small skirmishes are realistically viable in multiplayer.

Well, great examples for this are Stronghold Legends, which has a pause function, but no possibility to order units around or build stuff while paused and Stronghold 2, which has a pause function, where you can still give orders and build things.

Both are great games, and the different pause features implicate different tactics. However, in games versus the AI player, I think it is a good idea, since the AI plyer can multi-task and give different orders to different troops and builders at exactly the same time, whilst humans cannot do such things. Of course, when playing against another human, this is not needed, for both players are equal in that perspective.

Therefor, I think it would be a nice add-on for singleplayer games, but it shouldn't be used in multiplayer (but I'd love some sort of pause function, where you can just stop the game for a short bathroom-break and things like that)

(but I'd love some sort of pause function, where you can just stop the game for a short bathroom-break and things like that)

That's what is called a "time out". They're very handy for friendly matches, but against random people or in a competitive sense, it becomes a method to annoy the other player. Hence, the feature should be optional.

That's what is called a "time out". They're very handy for friendly matches, but against random people or in a competitive sense, it becomes a method to annoy the other player. Hence, the feature should be optional.

I wouldn't make it optional, I just'd make it that both can put it off, once one of them has put it on. That way, you can agree on bathroom breaks and such.